I was wondering if this is a variety of Armillaria. I know the mellea species is pretty variable, so am wondering if this is one of the variations. Thanks for any thoughts on this.
It certainly fits with what people refer to as the classical honey mushroom - but you'd need to verify even the genus with a white spore print. However, Tom Volk's newest publication of the genus may differ with the classical 'mellea' epithet. But a honey mushroom by any other name is still a honey mushroom.
Thanks MycoRob. I'll take a look at Tom's write up. I don't eat wild mushrooms that I find. Just my quirk..I leave the spores for the future. :-) I'm more a photographer than a mycophile, so as with other subjects, the image isn't as important as the subject and I leave them alone. So I haven't done spore prints. Guess where critical I either will have to change my outlook or accept not knowing.
Honey mushrooms often emerge from the trunk of a tree, sometimes fairly high up, though usually near ground level. They are also sometimes found apparently growing from the ground but actually growing from buried wood.